Yuko Nakazawa - KARASU no nyoubou

Everyone knows Nakazawa, right?



She is one of the original five of Morning Musume, a 1st gen musume and for fours years the leader of the group. For 12 years she was the leader of Hello! Project.

Back in 1998, to everyones surprise, she was given the opportunity to release solo material while being a member of Morning Musume; both a solo artist and a group member at the same time. But she wouldn't make regular pop songs, she would release music in the genre called "enka".

Her first release is entitled "karasu no nyoubou" ("The Raven's Wife") and was released on, what was unique for Japan, 8 cm cd single. It was also released on cassette.

promo poster

Nakazawa's manager at the time said that if it hit the no 1 spot on Oricon he'd shave his head.
The single sold around 80.000 copies and hit first place. Someone had to shave his head..

The composer of the song is Horiuchi Takao and he has performed the song himself on occasion. The song was also used a sthe ending for the dorama "Hagure Keiji Junjoha" back in 2004.

This guy also covers the song, but I don't know anything about him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMoYd3j_Q00

Nakazawa would go on and release an enka album and two more enka singles, before
moving on to slower, ballady jpop music.
Her last release was the single "danna-sama" back in 2007.

New singles and enka album

I can't believe it, but I have actually gotten my hands on all singles by Miyoshi Chinatsu, BRAND NEW.
So now my Chinatsu collection is complete!

Chinatsu wasn' in H!P for a long time. A little over a year, if i remember correctly.
She released three singles and participated in concerts, before suddenly leaving. Between the time she released her third single and left, she went abroad to USA for a little while. I dont't know why, but I have a small article about it. I am hoping for someone to translate it one day.

From left to right is Unchain my heart - Love, yes I do - Anata no shirt to love song (Your shirt and a love song).
I hadn't heard the b-sides to these single before, which made it really interesting getting them. It was like I got three new old school songs, and listening to them were amazing!

Before getting the singles I read this at "yossha!" a long time ago, where the author of the site comments on these releases, and I must say i agree with him/her.

I also got my hands on an enka compilation album, in which Yuki Maeda is features. Her third single is featured on the album, but what makes this interesting is that she covers "anata to ikiru" by Teresa Teng.
The arrangements sound the same to me, and Maeda sings it like only she can. I am not gonna compare her to Teng, but this cover was quite nice listening to.



I had been looking for this for years, and when it showed up I had to grab it.
There is not even a picture of Maed aon the cover fo the cd. You have to look at the back to find it. Can you spot her?




Only thing missing in my Maeda collection now is a live album by Itsuki Hiroshi in which Maeda covers the song "hana".

Sayaka Ichii is back!

This is old news, but I kinda felt like putting a few words about it here too.


Sayaka Ichii graduated from Morning Musume in 2000, and shortly after re-emerged in the music scene as a part of the band CUBIC-CROSS. They released singles and an album, and in 2003 Sayaka released a solo single.
Then came the news about her pregnancy and she withdrew (with no hesiteijon it seems) from the music business and stayed away for five years.

Rumor alert: THe official reason for her graduation was that she wanted to study (heard that one before haven't we?, cough asuka cough), but in only six months she was back with more music.
I read somewhere that Sayaka was annyoed with both the heavy promotion and pushof Maki Goto and the adding of 4th gen members. Apparently Sayaka was supposed to be the second face of MM next to Natsumi Abe before Maki Goto became so extremely popular.
And with the 4th gen I think she might have been annoyed that she would be pushed even further to the back (or she just found them too immature and left the ship).

Now she is back, and for starters it looks like she is gonna be a tv-personality and actress.

I am hoping for some music in the future, it'd be nice.
Her song "4U -hitatsura-" (her only solo single to date) is a nice jpop song with a cute video. I doubt this is what she'd be doing now, but lets be a bit nostalgic for now :)




hello/online has translated the first posts of her blog, a video message and a longer (and really interesting) article at their site.